The Echidna Strategy

Australia’s Search for Power and Peace

In the wake of a shift in the global power balance, how can Australia best protect itself?

The Echidna Strategy overturns the conventional wisdom about Australia's security. Australia will need to defend itself without American help, but this doesn't need to cost more.

The truth, which no Australian political leader is willing to confront, is that America's security is not threatened by China's rise. Once we accept that conclusion, the entire edifice on which our security has been built crumbles, and we need to start afresh.

Yet, despite the rapid growth of China's military, defending Australia need not be particularly difficult. Our leaders insist on making it expensive and hard. Even worse, in the name of the US alliance, they expose our country to more danger.

The Echidna Strategy sheds new light on the contest for leadership in Asia and the strategy Australia needs to thrive. This includes a radically different approach to defence. Above all, it means a bolder Australian foreign policy, with three goals: leadership in the Pacific; a much stronger relationship with Indonesia; and a regional order centred on a gathering of its great powers.

About the Author

Sam Roggeveen is director of the Lowy Institute's International Security Program. He was the founding editor of The Interpreter and is editor of the Lowy Institute Papers. Before joining the Lowy Institute, Sam was a senior analyst in Australia's peak intelligence agency, the Office of National Assessments.